Since his promotional release in 2009, former UFC middleweight title challenger Thales Leites has won all but one of his six fights.

Tonight, Leites (19-4) gets the opportunity to avenge the lone defeat when he rematches fellow UFC vet Matt Horwich (26-20-1) in the co-headliner of Amazon Forest Combat 2, which takes place in the Brazilian city of Manaus.

Following knee surgery (actually, four surgeries in all) and a nasty battle with a staphylococcus (“staph”) infection, Leites’ confidence now is unflinching.

“This is a rematch I’ve wanted for a very long time,” Leites told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “He is a great fighter. However, I think I wasn’t supposed to lose our first encounter. It bothers me until this day.”

Fresh off a three-fight win streak – one that included wins over Dean Lister, Rico Washington and Jesse Taylor in MFC and Bitetti Combat – Leites met Horwich in a Powerhouse World Promotions title fight in California. Leites, though, started strong but faded in the later rounds of the August 2010 fight. Horwich tapped him out in the fourth round.

“I believe I lost the fight due to getting tired,” Leites said. “I tired and was not able to continue the way I wanted to. I was winning the fight, but we reached a point in which I was truly exhausted. I even had trouble making weight for that fight. But it’s no excuse. He has his own skills. He showed up and did his work.”

Leites is getting Horwich while the IFL vet is stuck in a funk. Horwich has dropped three straight (all against name opponents), and he’s just 3-9 since first joining the UFC in 2008. But the record is as much an indication of the quality of competition (Ricardo Almeida, Bryan Baker, Jason MacDonald, Tom Watson, Jake Rosholt, etc.) as his own fighting skills.

That’s why Leites isn’t taking the fight likely. In fact, Leites hasn’t competed in nearly a year due to a knee surgery this past May. Following a split-decision win over Jeremy Horn – a fight he won despite suffering a torn ACL three months prior – Leites finally went under the knife.

It was far from a smooth process for the 30-year-old fighter, who said he had the same exact surgery that UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre recently did.

“After the surgery, I ended up with synovitis, which is an inflammation,” he said. “I had fluid removed from my knee twice via syringe. On the third time, my doctor decided on a procedure where he cut into me and inserted a knee drain to remove the liquid and allow for proper healing.

“Around this time, I had a 100- to 102-degree fever, and my knee looked like a basketball. I got admitted to the hospital, and I found I had a [staph] infection. After 15 days in the hospital, during which time the particular strain of staph was identified, I started to improve, and I was sent home with antibiotics.”

But he got worse before he got better.

“I had a relapse,” he said. “Altogether, I ended up spending one month and six days in the hospital. After that stay, I went home again but a nurse would still visit me to administer intravenous antibiotics. Ultimately I was on strong antibiotics this time for one month and 18 days. … This whole process also involved four operations under anesthesia. All of this was very rough on my body.”

As he healed up, the Amazon Forest Combat promotion was busy planning the rematch with Horwich. He and Horwich take the co-main event spot on a card headlined by Murilo Bustamante and Dave Menne. Tonight’s event, which streams online at 11:30 p.m. ET (8:30 p.m. PT), also features notables such as Patrick Cote, Josh Burkman, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Ronys Torres and others.

“The AFC set up [the rematch],” Leites said. “I’m not sure how the selection process took place, but I’m very happy. It was a like a Christmas present. Matt is a very experienced guy and tough. I fought him before, and he got the best of me. But that’s how MMA is.

“There are always ways for either fighter to win. I respect Matt Horwich, but this is my opportunity to avenge my loss. I am confident I’ll be able to get the win.”

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